Las Bateas 2 - MXLB-001 Yocom, Larissa L.; Fulé, Peter Z. Dating method: crossdated Sample storage location: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ Reference: Yocom, L.L., P.Z. Fulé, D.A. Falk, C. García-Domínguez, E. Cornejo-Oviedo, P.M. Brown, J. Villanueva-Díaz, J. Cerano, and C. Cortés Montaño. 2014. Fine-scale factors influence fire regimes in mixed-conifer forests on three high mountains in Mexico. International Journal of Wildland Fire 23:959-968. Abstract: We investigated the influence of broad- v. fine-scale factors on fire in an unusual landscape suitable for distinguishing the drivers of fire synchrony. Our study was conducted in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, in north-eastern Mexico. We worked in nine sites on three parallel mountains that receive nearly identical broad-scale climatic influence, but between which fires are unlikely to spread. We collected and cross dated samples from 357 fire-scarred trees in nine sites in high-elevation mixed-conifer forests and identified fire dates. We used Jaccard similarity analysis to evaluate synchrony among sites and quantified relationships between climate and fire occurrence. Fires were historically frequent (mean fire interval ranged from 8 to 16 years in all sites) and dates of fire exclusion ranged from 1887 to 1962. We found low fire synchrony among the three mountains, indicating a strong influence of fine-scale factors on fire occurrence. Fire regime attributes were similar across mountains despite the independence of fire dates. La Niña events were associated with fire over time, although not significantly since the 1830s. Our results highlight the importance of scale in describing fire regimes and suggest that we can use fire history to understand controls on complex ecosystem processes and patterns. Reference: Yocom Kent, L.L., P.Z. Fulé, P.M. Brown, J. Cerano, E. Cornejo-Oviedo, C. Cortés Montaño, S.A. Drury, D.A. Falk, J. Meunier, H.M. Poulos, C.N. Skinner, S.L. Stephens, J. Villanueva-Díaz. 2017. Climate drives fire synchrony but local factors control fire regime change in northern Mexico. Ecosphere 8(3): Article e01709. Abstract: The occurrence of wildfire is influenced by a suite of factors ranging from “top-down” influences (e.g., climate) to “bottom-up” localized influences (e.g., ignitions, fuels, and land use). We carried out the first broad-scale assessment of wildland fire patterns in northern Mexico to assess the relative influence of top-down and bottom-up drivers of fire in a region where frequent fire regimes continued well into the 20th century. Using a network of 67 sites, we assessed (1) fire synchrony and the scales at which synchrony is evident, (2) climate drivers of fire, and (3) asynchrony in fire regime changes. We found high fire synchrony across northern Mexico between 1750 and 2008, with synchrony highest at distances <400 km. Climate oscillations, especially El Niño-Southern Oscillation, were important drivers of fire synchrony. However, bottom-up factors modified fire occurrence at smaller spatial scales, with variable local influence on the timing of abrupt, unusually long fire-free periods starting between 1887 and 1979 CE. Thirty sites lacked these fire-free periods. In contrast to the neighboring southwestern United States, many ecosystems in northern Mexico maintain frequent fire regimes and intact fire–climate relationships that are useful in understanding climate influences on disturbance across scales of space and time. Related ITRDB chronology: MEXI030 NOAA/IMPD web landing page for this fire history site is available at: https://ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/21573 NOAA/IMPD DIF and JSON metadata records for this fire history site are available at: https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/published/paleo/dif/xml/noaa-fire-21573.xml and https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/published/paleo/json/noaa-fire-21573.json FHX filename: mxlb-001.fhx IMPD code: MXLB-001 Name of site: Las Bateas 2 Site code: LB Contributors: Yocom, Larissa L.; Fulé, Peter Z. Latitude: 25.27 (WGS84) Longitude: -100.48 (WGS84) Mean elevation: 3253 (meters) Country: Mexico State: Coahuila Region: Sierra Madre Oriental First year: 1532 AD Last year: 1955 AD Species name: Pinus hartwegii [PIHR], [ PISF] Funding agency names and grant numbers: National Science Foundation DEB-0640351 Comments: This site was sampled as part of a project to reconstruct historical fire regimes in northeastern Mexico. Ring-boundary fire scars were assigned to the subsequent calendar year. Yocom fire data from Las Bateas 2, Sierra Madre Oriental, Coahuila, Mexico - IMPD MXLB-001 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paelo/study/21573 Fire History Graphs: Fire History Graphs illustrate specific years when fires occurred and how many trees were scarred. They are available in both PDF and PNG formats. The graphs consist of 2 parts, both of which show the X axis (time line) at the bottom with the earliest year of information on the left and the latest on the right. The Fire Index Plot is the topmost plot, and shows two variables: sample depth (the number of recording trees in each year) as a blue line along the left Y axis, compared with the percent trees scarred shown as gray bars along the right Y axis. Below, the Fire Chronology Plot consists of horizontal lines representing injuries by year on individual sampled trees. Symbols are overlain that denote the years containing the dendrochronologically-dated fire scars or injuries. The sample ID of each tree is displayed to the right of each line. The Composite Axis below represents the composite information from all individual series. The symbols used to represent the fire scars or injuries, and the filters used to determine the composite information, are shown in the legend. These graphs were created using the Fire History Analysis and Exploration System (FHAES). See http://www.fhaes.org for more information.